New taxonomic data are presented from a revision of the Syntrichia caninervis complex. Seven taxa have been recognized, based on morphological characters of about 180 samples. An identification key is presented. Lectotypes for Syntrichia handelii and Tortula bornmuelleri are proposed. Syntrichia pseudodesertorum is included as a synonym of S. caninervis var. caninervis. Syntrichia pseudohandelii is reduced to the rank of variety as S. caninervis var. pseudodesertorum. Two taxa are cited for first time for N. Africa, S. rigescens and S. caninervis var. gypsophila, and one for Morocco, S. caninervis var. caninervis.

Communicating Editor: Jeff H. Rettig

The genus Ceratozamia comprises about 16 species with restricted distribution north and south of the Eje Neovolcanico in Mexico. Phylogenetic relationships were explored among species of Ceratozamia, using 24 exemplars and seven putative outgroup taxa. We examined variation at the molecular level in two non-coding regions from the chloroplast and nuclear genomes. Although the rate of change of the ITS and trnL-F non-coding regions is considered appropriate to recover variation at this taxonomic level, only 33 nucleotide positions were informative out of 2081. Despite low levels of variation, analyses showed that Ceratozamia is monophyletic and identified Zamia as sister group. The molecular phylogeny of Ceratozamia revealed three main clades, which allow for biogeographic interpretations. The most basal clade suggests a probable ancestral geographic area for Ceratozamia in Southeast Mexico. Another implication is that speciation within the genus appears to be associated with the post-Pleistocene spread of floristic communities from proposed Pleistocene tropical refugia located in S. E. Mexico towards north of the Eje Neovolcanico.

Communicating Editor: Thomas G. Lammers

Compsoneura sprucei represents a difficult species complex that has not been studied since the 1930s. Multivariate analysis of morphological data based on 454 herbarium specimens from 14 neotropical countries provided supporting evidence that Compsoneura sprucei is a complex of at least two species, one in western Amazonian South America, and the other in the eastern lowlands of Central America from Veracruz, Mexico to isthmian Panama. The gross aspects of herbarium specimen morphology, particularly of the dried leaves and fruit, have helped to perpetuate a broad concept of the widespread C. sprucei. Lack of detailed information for staminate flowers has also delayed understanding of the Compsoneura sprucei species complex. The name Compsoneura mexicana is proposed as a new combination for the Central American component. It is moved from synonomy under the name Myristica mexicana to valid species-level status in Compsoneura. Compsoneura sprucei sensu stricto is maintained for the South American component. Results of morphological analysis, a diagnostic key, species descriptions, and a list of representative specimens studied are provided for these two closely related species.

Communicating Editor: John V. Freudenstein

These comprehensive analyses of systematic relationships within Trilliaceae focused on the relationships within Paris sensu lato (i.e., Paris, Daiswa, and Kinugasa); between species of Trillium; and between Paris sensu lato and Trillium. Seventy species were selected for cladistic analyses and scored for 110 morphological characters; matK and ITS molecular characters were obtained from GenBank for a subset of 26 taxa. Based on the preliminary results, Trillium rivale was used as a functional outgroup. For the subset of 26 species, analysis of the combined ITS and matK sequence data produced six shortest trees; the morphological data, 13 shortest trees; and the combined morphological and molecular data sets, three trees. Analyses of the full morphological data set of 70 species produced 76 shortest trees. Trillium rivale was distinct from both Paris and Trillium and should be placed in its own genus, for which the name Pseudotrillium is proposed. Trillium govanianum was more closely related to Paris than to Trillium but should be retained as a monotypic genus, Trillidium. Trillium and Paris were monophyletic based on molecular as well as morphological evidence. The cladistic analyses strongly support the separation of Paris sensu lato into Daiswa, Kinugasa, and Paris. The monophyly of Trillium after removal of Pseudotrillium and Trillidium was supported in all but the large morphological analysis; subgenus Phyllantherum was monophyletic in all cases, but subgenus Trillium was not monophyletic.

Communicating Editor: Jeff H. Rettig

Synechanthus, a genus of two species, is widely distributed from southern Mexico through Central America to the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistical methods, based on data taken from herbarium specimens, were used to examine morphological variation between and within species. The species are clearly distinguished based on qualitative variables, and means of most quantitative variables are significantly different between the two. Synechanthus warscewiczianus is distributed more or less continuously from Nicaragua to Ecuador. No variables are correlated with latitude, but three are correlated with elevation. In central Panama, small-sized plants occur on three isolated peaks. These can be separated from larger-sized plants with discriminant analysis, and two of the three small-sized populations can be separated from each other. The distribution of S. fibrosus, from Mexico to Costa Rica, encompasses three separate populations that can be distinguished from one another by discriminant analysis. No variables are correlated with elevation or latitude.

Communicating Editor: Fred R. Barrie

The Brazilian bamboo genus Eremocaulon is revised, including a key to its five species, descriptions, illustrations, and a distribution map. Our modified circumscription of Eremocaulon unites E. aureofimbriatum with four other species based on a unique combination of both vegetative and reproductive characters, including leathery culm leaves bearing oral setae, an elongated, persistent prophyll at the base of the primary branch, pseudospikelets, and six stamens. The western Amazonian species E. amazonicum, with capitate clusters of pseudospikelets, is newly described, as is E. setosum from the Atlantic forests of São Paulo. The monotypic genus Criciuma is recognized as a synonym of Eremocaulon, resulting in the new combination E. asymmetricum, and Guadua capitata is transferred to Eremocaulon as E. capitatum. Apoclada, Eremocaulon, Guadua, Olmeca, and Otatea, the five currently recognized genera of the Guaduinae, are compared and contrasted.

Communicating Editor: Paul Wilson

The taxonomic composition of three principal and distantly related groups of the former tribe Millettieae, which were first identified from nuclear phytochrome and chloroplast trnK/matK sequences, was more extensively investigated with a phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS/5.8S sequences. The first of these groups includes the neotropical genera Poecilanthe and Cyclolobium, which are resolved as basal lineages in a clade that otherwise includes the neotropical genera Brongniartia and Harpalyce and the Australian Templetonia and Hovea. The second group includes the large millettioid genera, Millettia, Lonchocarpus, Derris, and Tephrosia, which are referred to as the “core Millettieae” group. Phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS/5.8S sequences reveals that Millettia is polyphyletic, and that subclades of the core Millettieae group, such as the New World Lonchocarpus or the pantropical Tephrosia and segregate genera (e.g., Chadsia and Mundulea), each form well supported monophyletic subgroups. The third lineage includes the genera Afgekia, Callerya, and Wisteria. These genera are resolved as a basal subclade in the inverted-repeat-lacking clade, which is a large legume group that includes the many well known temperate and herbaceous legumes, such as Astragalus, Medicago and Pisum, but not any other Millettieae.

Communicating Editor: Jerrold I. Davis

Several species in the North American shrub genus Ceanothus L. are purported to be diploid hybrid-derived species, isolated and stabilized from congeners by geographic barriers. Ceanothus masonii and C. sonomensis are putatively of hybrid origin each derived independently from C. cuneatus var. cuneatus and C. gloriosus var. exaltatus. We tested this hypothesis using allozyme, morphometric data, and sequences from the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) and 5.8S coding region of nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) and the chloroplast-encoded matK gene. We found all four entities to be closely related genetically. Lack of genetic differentiation made it difficult to evaluate the hybrid origin hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis of primary allopatric divergence is just as reasonable an explanation for our data.

Communicating Editor: Paul Wilson

Three new species and two new varieties of Mentzelia belonging to the multistemmed subshrub group of section Bartonia are described. Typical of the group, they are narrow endemics occurring in relatively barren clay soils in the Intermountain Region of interior western U.S. Mentzelia tiehmii and Mentzelia argillicola are from Nevada, Mentzelia memorabalis from northern Arizona, Mentzelia multicaulis variety uintahensis from northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado, and Mentzelia multicaulis variety flumensevera from central Utah.

Communicating Editor: Aaron Liston

Mentzelia rhizomata, a new species of sect. Bartonia, is described from the Roan Plateau area of Garfield Co., Colorado. It may be readily distinguished from other taxa of the section by its sparsely branched, horizontally spreading, elongate, woody, deeply seated underground caudex system. From its nearest relative, M. goodrichii of northeastern Utah, the Roan Cliffs blazingstar differs in being a sprawling plant with five petals, generally shorter pedicels and sepals, an urceolate fruit, and numerous, long, twisted and often tangled, exceedingly fragile and easily detached caudex branches. The plant has been reported in the Colorado literature under the name Nuttallia argillosa.

Communicating Editor: Matt Lavin

Phylogenetic relationships among Vaccinium sections Macropelma, Myrtillus, and Hemimyrtillus have been the subject of much debate. These taxa have been proposed as close relatives and they share, along with sect. Oxycoccoides, the character of buds covered by two partially fused prophylls. However, the monophyly of these sections has not been assessed and hypotheses about evolutionary relationships have not been tested using a cladistic framework. While most investigators agree that the Hawaiian taxa from sect. Macropelma represent a monophyletic group, the phylogenetic position of the Polynesian V. cereum has been the subject of much discussion. Molecular data from the nrITS and the chloroplast genes matK and ndhF for 52 species of Vaccinieae were used in a phylogenetic analysis to assess the monophyly of these sections and to determine their phylogenetic position in tribe Vaccinieae. Hawaiian representatives from sect. Macropelma form a monophyletic group that is derived from within sect. Myrtillus. However, the Polynesian V. cereum is likely of hybrid origin. The Myrtillus Macropelma clade is sister to a clade that includes sections Oxycoccoides and Praestantia, and the two Asian representatives from sect. Hemimyrtillus. The Tethyan clade from sect. Hemimyrtillus is sister to the rest of tribe Vaccinieae.

Communicating Editor: Aaron Liston

We investigated cladistic relationships among the genera and species of paleotropical Gentianaceae-Canscorinae using morphological characters. Twenty-five characters were scored across all 23 species of the subtribe plus four outgroup species representing the closely related Coutoubeinae and Chironiinae. The maximum parsimony analysis resulted in one most parsimonious tree of 91 steps. The seven genera of Canscorinae fall into two major clades. These comprise Cracosna, Hoppea, Schinziella, and Canscora (clade I), and Microrphium, Phyllocyclus, and Duplipetala ined. (clade II). Intergeneric relationships were highly congruent with earlier molecular analyses in which, however, not all genera were included. Phylogenetic relationships among genera imply that the two different types of anisomorphic androecia found in Canscorinae evolved independently. An ancestral area analysis showed that Canscorinae are likely to have originated in SE Asia. From there India was colonized by the Canscora, Hoppea, Schinziella clade. The presence of some species of this clade in Africa/Madagascar is considered to be the result of independent long-distance dispersal events.

Communicating Editor: Gregory M. Plunkett

Analysis of the trnT-trnL spacer, the trnL intron and the trnL-trnF spacer of 65 species of Cynanchum, 33 members of the Metastelminae, and seven representatives of other Asclepiadeae shows that Cynanchum in its present circumscription is polyphyletic. Both the genus Cynanchum and the subtribe Metastelminae s.l. split along the Old World—New World geographic division. The only exception to this division is Cynanchum subgenus Mellichampia, which belongs to Cynanchum s. str. For the Old World Cynanchum relatives, the subtribe Cynanchinae is re-established. The remaining New World sections of Cynanchum are not monophyletic. The South American members of section Cynanchum join the morphologically aberrant Grisebachiella hieronymi. Section Macbridea is associated with Funastrum. In the Old World, the succulent genera Folotsia, Karimbolea, Platykeleba, and Sarcostemma are monophyletic with stem-succulent Cynanchum and nested within a clade of exclusively Malagasy Cynanchum species.

Communicating Editor: Gregory M. Plunkett

The Gnaphalieae are a group of sunflowers that have their greatest diversity in South America, Southern Africa, and Australia. The objective of this study was to reconstruct a phylogeny of the Australian Gnaphalieae using sequence data from the trnL intron, trnL/trnF intergenic spacer, matK, and ETS. Included in this investigation are the Australian genera of the Gnaphalieae from the subtribes Cassiniinae, Gnaphaliinae, Angianthinae, and Loricariinae, and one to four genera from all tribes of the subfamily Asteroideae to serve as outgroups. Results indicate that the subtribes Angianthinae and Cassiniinae are non-monophyletic as currently circumscribed. There is also some evidence to suggest that the genera Asteridea, Craspedia, Hyalosperma, Millotia, and Podolepis are monophyletic, whereas Calocephalus, Gnephosis, Myriocephalus pro parte, Ozothamnus, Siloxerus, Trichanthodium, and Xerochrysum are non-monophyletic. A group of perennial shrubs and alpine cushion plants from southeastern Australia dominates the clade at the base of the Gnaphalieae. The more derived clades contain primarily herbaceous annual taxa, mainly from western Australia. Based on our results, it seems likely that initial colonization and diversification of the Australian Gnaphalieae occurred in the Bassian Floristic region in eastern New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. Following diversification in eastern Australia, concurrent with the increasing aridity over the entire continent during the Miocene, a massive radiation in the Gnaphalieae occurred into the arid zone of South Australia and Western Australia.

Communicating Editor: Matt Lavin

Phylogenetic relationships were assessed for 14 taxa in the Asteriscus alliance, a group of three genera within the tribe Inuleae. Species of Asteriscus, Ighermia, and Pallenis occur in desert and coastal habitats throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East, with several species endemic to Macaronesia. Sequence data from the external and internal transcribed spacers of the nuclear ribosomal DNA and from the chloroplast gene ndhF were obtained for all taxa. Analysis of individual and combined data sets support a monophyletic Pallenis but indicate that Asteriscus, as currently delimited, is paraphyletic. Reassignment of Ighermia to its former status as a species of Asteriscus allows Asteriscus to be monophyletic as well. Multiple, independent dispersal events between the continent and Macaronesian islands are required to explain the current distribution of taxa. In general, the island endemics are more derived than continental taxa, but the ultimate origin of the alliance remains unclear.

Communicating Editor: Matt Lavin